The Barrier
by Phayn
Summary: You made a mistake, unfortunately, nobody deems it important enough to inform you what exactly you did wrong. But because of this 'mistake' you made, results in you being send to a notorious prison called The Barrier. Has a reader-insert and is AU.
1. Fallen Mage

I sighed to myself as I walked the long and narrow path. I never thought it would come to this, certainly there would be some kind of consequence, but this? The two guards beside me kept a strong grip around my shoulders, as if they thought I could run away. But no, running away from this place is impossible. I should know, as we were always told what happened to the notorious seven that went before me a long time ago. This served as a warning, so that we would know what happened to people who defied the High Masters. Would I also be added to the stories now?

"There is a new one…"

"Do you hear that mummy, someone is coming!"

"Be silent my child, we don't want _their_ attention onto us."

I hear some voices say around me, the guards heard them too and I felt their grip grow stronger around my shoulders. As we passed them I finally saw the place where they were bringing me. We went through the end of the tunnel where a sign board hung that read 'The Ruins: Level 1'.

Once we passed that I saw the place where they would hold me, a barren cell. That's right, they were throwing me inside a prison! And not some random prison, no it was The Barrier. The prison where only seven humans were ever kept. No more. And then we never even heard a thing from them again, they just disappeared over time.

Of course this doesn't mean that it's empty, it is quite crowded in here actually. The Barrier was a prison especially made for Monsters. And I don't mean people who have done horrible things that they deserve to be called monsters, but actual, honest to God monsters.

I am quite glad that the monsters hadn't seen me yet, as it wasn't an unknown fact that they despised humans.

Once I and the guards entered the cell, they got my handcuffs off me but before I could move away freely one of them grabbed my arm. He then proceeded to put some kind of device on me, it was made of iron and had engravings inscribed on it. I looked it over but saw that I couldn't read anything from them. The guards both stood up once they finished and one looked at me and said, "You brought this upon yourself, have some self-respect and bear the consequences." Then they both stood up and turned the bars from my cell on, they glowed a very clear blue, so much that it almost hurt to look at. Then they turned around and briskly walked away as fast as they could.

I was alone now and though about what he said and I snorted to myself. "Self-respect" I scoffed, as if they have anything like that themselves. From what I had seen made it clear that they were the worst kind of people.

As I turned I looked around my small holding cell. Thankfully I could see clearly thanks to the prison bars, they shined a hard but sombre kind of blue glow. When I looked at the walls I could see that there were no windows which was logical as we were underground. Only there also weren't any lamps. I hoped that there would be more lights outside when I could go out of my cell tomorrow. In the corner stood a small bed with a normal blanket, it was barely big enough to fit me and I thought about who it could have been that was kept here before me.

In the corner stood one wall so it was shielded from view with on the other side a toilet and a shower. The only other thing the room had was one chair which actually looked kind of comfy, that was definitely a plus, and a shelf which would come in handy for books or other stuff.

I sighed and sat on the bed, this was really depressing no matter how you looked at it. I thought about the reason which resulted in me being here. The fact was, I am a mage, just your random mage, nothing special about it as there are quite a lot of us these days. We have our own hierarchy and society with the High Masters on the top of our ranks. We usually help out normal people with our gifts.

I myself am just a lowly student who had just gotten their intern by the Breakers. But one day I somehow ... kind of misplaced myself on my way to work. I was lost in the building where I had to be and was stranded in some kind of lab, it was dark but I saw that there was someone inside. I couldn't see who it was as it was dark but I did see that the person lay on a table. This alone was strange but the fact that he was on some kind of _operation_ table and the fact that he was strapped freaked me out!

I thought about what to do, this could be some kind of crazy person and I wouldn't want to be involved with that. If I got him free he might try murder me or something drastic like that. So no, like any sensible person, I turned around and was fully planning on not doing a thing. But just as I was about the walk away I heard a groan from the person behind me.

Of course I thought as I stilled. I listened and hoped that the person wasn't waking up but he groaned once more only louder this time. I sighed and turned around and saw that he was waking up. I heard the person mumble something but it wasn't clear enough to understand.

I started to walk towards him so I could understand what he was saying, I saw he was strapped so I should be save from him. As I got closer I could see more clearly as I got used to the dark but I still couldn't make out who the person was as they were wrapped in bandages from head to toe. Strange I thought. Beside the person there were all sorts of tools, I picked one up to look closer and saw that it was some kind of drill with liquid on it. I immediately thought of blood and threw the thing away.

The person heard and realised I was there and mumbled some more, I still couldn't understand what he was saying. "What did you say?" I finally asked nervously. This time he spoke louder. "H-help… me…" he spoke with a hoarse voice. I think he tried to grab for me as he strained his straps around is right arm and neck.

I really didn't know what to do anymore but I was certain that nobody should be… experimented on or whatever they did to him! Just as I was panicking about what I should be doing I heard some talking from the hall where I came from.

I quickly made a decision and I looked at the straps and how I should unbind them. Then I saw that it had a magic restrainer on it, so does that mean this person could do magic to break out when unstrapped? Luckily these were easy to break from an outside person and broke them easily.

The voices were getting louder and I could hear footsteps now. Just as I undid the last strap I heard the door open.

They were still talking while they walked inside but stilled as they saw me. "What do you think you're doing!" I heard someone scream frantically, I whirled around fast as I heard the very angry voice and saw, indeed, three very angry people in lab coats. One started running towards me and I looked at the previously strapped person, he was getting up.

I turned and ran towards the person, a woman, and tackled her. We both fell to the floor when I heard one man scream: "NO! Stop _it! STOP!"_ I looked up at him from the ground but saw that he wasn't screaming at me but at the person behind me. I turned to look around, but the only thing I saw was a black mist that was dissolving.

I turned my sight back towards the women and men, who were desperately looking for the bandaged man, but he was gone. While they were looking I tried to stand up but the women held me in place. Once the men realised the person was really gone they turned to me and gave a menacing glare. I looked at them fearfully as I realised I really did something bad from the looks they were giving.

"You've really done it now, that was the last one," one man said in angry tone as they hauled me up and took me away.

I did not know what they meant but at least the person got away…

And now I'm in the Barrier prison, considered the worst kind of punishment by my people. One made especially for monsters so they could not escape. I still don't know what I did that was so terrible and wondered if I ever would.

I sighed, then again, all the monsters that are in this prison aren't guilty for anything either. But still, every time a new monster is found, they are put into this prison. I don't know why, but the High Masters really hate monsterkind. Of course this doesn't mean that everyone hates them but the High Masters have a lot of power in the society. A lot of people are influenced through propaganda or simply don't know any better and don't bother to think why they would want hate all monsters. What the reason is, and just hunt them as you can get quite a price for them.

I turned my thoughts to the fact that I had no idea what I should do now. This was completely unfamiliar territory for me. They hadn't given me any kind of instruction how things worked in this prison before they put me in here. Actually, they didn't explain anything to me. As I mulled about this I decided I would think of something tomorrow as I slowly fell asleep…


	2. The Monsters

I was shocked awake from a loud buzzing sound, I looked around and saw that the prison bars were turned off. How this worked I had no idea, but it was probably done automatically as there weren't any guards. I sat up and saw that it was still dark on the other side of my cell and thought about what I should do. I didn't have anything with me or in my cell that could hide the fact that I was human. This was really nerve wreaking as I didn't know how the monsters would react.

I had thought about it and came to the conclusion that monsters really wouldn't like any humans, especially not Mages. They were locked up by us and as a result very bitter, at least that was my reasoning.

I did think about using my blanket for cover, as that was the only other kind of cloth that I could use without counting the clothes I was wearing, but I dismissed the idea as I knew that it would only get more suspicion to me.

So, should I just stay here or show my face and be honest about the fact that I was human. While I was thinking about it I saw that the lights were turning on. I stood up and looked carefully outside, now that the lights were on I could see that there was a long row of holding cells. At the end I could see stairs that went up were another row of cells was located only a level higher. 'There should be quite a lot of monsters here,' I thought as I counted the many cells. Once you looked past the cells I could see a little part of a large clearing. The place really looked like a ruin, probably why it's called that way, as the dark purple stones that made up the walls looked brittle and when you looked up you could see stalagmites forming. Some stones were green from alga and other kinds of plants that could grow in this near darkness.

I looked back at the cells and saw that monsters were coming out. My eyes widened at the many kinds of monsters, they were all sorts of sizes. From a very small looking bird with beautiful butterfly wings to a very tall stone monster, the stone monster had pieces of stone falling to ground, but it didn't seem to bother him. There were some that could fly with or without wings or some that slithered on the ground. There were even a few humanoid looking monsters, it was all very diverse.

The reason this surprised me so much was because we never really see any monsters outside of this prison. That's because the monsters are being hunted till they either hide away or are captured, never to be seen by human eyes except for the hunters. We did see some drawings on wanted posters but those are always exaggerated to make them look more frightening, at least, I thought they were.

There was a really sad thing about all that I was seeing before, namely that there were whole families by the looks of it. I saw a small monster walking hand in hand with what looked like their mother. Why did they have to be locked up here? It seemed all so cruel and pointless to me. We both have Souls and are intelligent creatures, why the fighting? But then again with humans, if there is something we don't understand, we fear it. And this fear turns us to destroy it, as we fear it would do the same to us.

Most monster were now around the corner where the clearing was located and I couldn't see them anymore. Then I heard my stomach grumble and once again, I had a dilemma. I really needed to eat something as the last time I did so was almost two day ago. Luckily they did gave me water and I can drink more from the sink that stood in this room so that wasn't a problem.

I stood in the shade of my cell for quite some time when my stomach grumbled again, voicing its need for food. I sighed and steeled myself for the things that could happen and stepped outside.

I walked the long way beside the cells so I could enter the clearing. They had to have food there, I mean, they are monsters but everyone has to eat right?

As I came closer I heard them speak to each other, it wasn't all that sombre as I had expected it to be. People were laughing and I heard children play. This made me a little more hopeful as I entered the clearing.

. . .

Then there was silence and I felt my little hope fall away as everyone who spotted me turned to look my way. Their blank but still friendly stares turned suspicious once they saw that I was a human and nor some new monster. I looked around nervously and ducked my head.

I had seen a food stand and slowly walked towards it. As I walked, all the attention of the monsters slowly turned towards me so that everyone was looking at me. I wanted to slink into the ground just so I could hide! But I had my mission for food so I walked towards the stand.

Once I stood before the stand I saw that a rabbit monster was behind it, she looked dubiously at me as I raised my head to look at her. I saw that the stand had drinks and bread, it seemed as if bread were freshly baked and I wondered how that was possible.

".. Uh…" I stammered a little, the bread looked delicious for my hungry eyes. My stomach grumbled and I felt my mouth watering. Even though my obvious hunger, I couldn't even utter a single word as I nervously looked at her again. She opened her mouth the say something when a patronizing voice said something from behind me.

"So what is this puny little human doing here?"

I slowly turned around and saw that there stood a huge tree monster, she was almost twice as big as me. I am just average with my one meter seventy in height so that means she was almost 3 meters! She had a sturdy build and looked very condescending towards me. A typical bully, only in monster form.

I could only stare at her. Apparently she saw this as an invitation to say some more and said mockingly, "doesn't even your own kind want you that you are thrown in here?" She pushed me with her big hands and I stumbled backwards. I hit the food stand and looked fearfully at the rabbit woman, she looked like she couldn't decide what to do. Help me or join the tree woman.

Before she could decide the latter I ran away from the stand and ran as fast as I could through the crowd of monsters. I only stopped running once I returned to my cell and wheezed out a breath as I crashed on my bed. I looked fearfully at my cell door as I couldn't close it. Are they following me?

Five tense minutes passed and I assumed that nobody was coming. What was I thinking! If this is how they reacted for only the fact of me being human, what would they do if they knew I was a mage!? One of the beings that made this place especially for them so they could never see the sky again.

I was close to hysterics as I cried once I realised just how utterly hopeless my situation really was. I had no way out, and the other residents from the Barrier hated my very being from what I saw. How would I get food, could I even have some contact with someone or would I slowly die in this lonely cell, forgotten and despised for something I don't even understand?

A long time passed while I was thinking about my hopeless situation and was feeling miserable, when I heard a hard buzzing sound. I looked up but didn't see anything. It sounded like some kind of alarm, but what for?

Then I heard someone walking towards my cell. I was frightened because I know that it wouldn't be a human as they had all but abandoned this place. Wat would a monster want with me?

Once the footsteps stopped I didn't hear anything for a while. Then I heard a voice speak. "Human? Are you awake?"

I looked up and saw it was a tall skeleton, as he saw that I looked up his face brightened. "Human! My name is The Great Papyrus! I came here so I could meet you and become friends!" he said in a loud and excited voice.

I looked at him dubiously, 'is this some kind of trick,' I though? Would he try to become friends with me only to hurt me at the end? I must say he was laying it on a little tick.

I kept silent and didn't stop looking at him when he started to fidget. "T-that is, of course, if you… ah… want to be friends with me…" He said in a much softer voice. He looked kind of pitiful the way he stood there, and something panged in my chest.

"I, The Great Papyrus, can be a very good friend! You don't have to worry about that, I will make you friendship spaghetti! And then we will become the Best of Friends!" He said in a voice with some more confidence. Then he started babbling about how we would become great friends.

As I looked at him I saw that he was actually honest, I thought about the situation, he could've been send by someone else but he doesn't seem to have any bad intentions. That made me a little happier as I now knew that there was at least one person who wouldn't completely hate me in this Prison. At least, for as long as it lasted.

Papyrus was still looking a little uncomfortable so I gave him a small smile and nodded. He treated this as if it were a gift from the heavens.

"DOES THIS MEAN THAT YOU WANT TO BE FRIENDS WITH ME HUMAN?" He said in a very loud voice all of a sudden, it seems to be that this was his default voice. "I, THE GREAT PAPYRUS, HAVE NEVER BEEN FRIENDS WITH A HUMAN! THIS IS ALL VERY EXCITING! HUMAN WE HAVE TO LEARN MORE ABOUT EACH OTHER, IF WE WENT TO MY-", BUZZZZ, we both jumped as the loud alarm that I heard earlier rang again and interrupted Papyrus.

I still did not know what it meant and looked at Papyrus for any clues and saw that he looked a little scared and glanced at his own arm. When I also looked I saw that he had the same iron device around his arm as the guards had put around me.

"I am sorry human, but I, The Great Papyrus has to go! I will return for you in the morning!" Papyrus spoke in a much softer voice then he did a few seconds ago. And then he was gone. I was a little stumped at the abrupt disappearance and blinked, I stared dumbly at the place he just stood.

Not a minute later and the bars of my cell lighted up again. 'Ooh, so that was why the alarm was ringing, it was a warning that the bars would be turned on,' I thought. Though it didn't really explain why Papyrus was so scared.

I looked around and decided that I should get some sleep, there wasn't anything here that I could do and I wasn't getting out before the morning.

I went to get ready when I felt my stomach groan in pain. I stilled and rubbed my stomach, I had really hoped that I could have eaten something today. As I lay down I hoped that Papyrus wasn't lying about that friendship spaghetti. It didn't matter what exactly it was, as it sounded kind of dubious, I would eat it for this hunger needed to be stilled.


End file.
